The Fantasy Review’s list of 6 Fantasy Books with Magical Schools We Wish We Could Attend.
A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1) by Ursula K. Le Guin
From the blurb:
Ged was the greatest sorcerer in Earthsea, but in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. In his hunger for power and knowledge, he tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world.
This is the tumultuous tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death’s threshold to restore the balance….
Sabriel (Abhorsen, #1) by Garth Nix
From the blurb:
Dark Secrets, Deep Love, and Dangerous Magic
Sent to a boarding school in Ancelstierre as a young child, Sabriel has had little experience with the random power of Free Magic or the Dead who refuse to stay dead in the Old Kingdom. But during her final semester, her father, the Abhorsen, goes missing, and Sabriel knows she must enter the Old Kingdom to find him. She soon finds companions in Mogget, a cat whose aloof manner barely conceals its malevolent spirit, and Touchstone, a young Charter Mage long imprisoned by magic, now free in body but still trapped by painful memories…
The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) by Patrick Rothfuss
Check out our review of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.
From the blurb:
My name is Kvothe.
I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
You may have heard of me.…
The Magicians’ Guild (Black Magician Trilogy, #1) by Trudi Canavan
From the blurb:
“We should expect this young woman to be more powerful than our average novice, possibly even more powerful than the average magician.”
This year, like every other, the magicians of Imardin gather to purge the city of undesirables. Cloaked in the protection of their sorcery, they move with no fear of the vagrants and miscreants who despise them and their work—until one enraged girl, barely more than a child, hurls a stone at the hated invaders . . . and effortlessly penetrates their magical shield.…
The Magicians (The Magicians, #1) by Lev Grossman
From the blurb:
Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A high school math genius, he’s secretly fascinated with a series of children’s fantasy novels set in a magical land called Fillory, and real life is disappointing by comparison. When Quentin is unexpectedly admitted to an elite, secret college of magic, it looks like his wildest dreams have come true. But his newfound powers lead him down a rabbit hole of hedonism and disillusionment, and ultimately to the dark secret behind the story of Fillory. The land of his childhood fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he ever could have imagined. . . .
Magic’s Pawn (The Last Herald-Mage, #1) by Mercedes Lackey
From the blurb:
Though Vanyel has been born with near-legendary abilities to work both Herald and Mage magic, he wanted no part in such things. Nor does he seek a warrior’s path, wishing instead to become a Bard.
Yet such talent as his, if left untrained, may prove a menace not only to Vanyel but to others as well. So he is sent to be fostered with his aunt, Savil, one of the fame Herald-Mages of Valdemar.…
